Scottish Actor Graham McTavish Shows Love for ‘American Spirit’ With Debut of 7-Year-Old Bottled In Bond Bourbon

Graham McTavish attends “The Witcher” Season 3 UK Premiere at The Now Building at Outernet London. (Photo by Fred Duval / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

Scottish actor Graham McTavish has started his own liquor company, McTavish Spirits. Surprisingly, the first release from the Scottish actor is not a scotch whisky but McTavish an American spirit: a 7 -year-old, Bottled In Bond bourbon from Indiana.

“As a Scotsman who grew up dreaming of America, this whiskey is the perfect expression of my own life path and of my love for the true ‘American spirit,’” McTavish said in a news release, according to Bourbon Lens.

McTavish is best known for his roles such as Dwalin in “The Hobbit” film trilogy, Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Dougal MacKenzie and Buck MacKenzie in “Outlander.”

The first whiskey from the brand is named The Warchief.

Bottled at 100 proof per Bottled In Bond regulations, The Warchief is distilled by MGP from a mashbill of 75% corn, 21% rye and 4% malted barley. The whiskey is sold exclusively on the McTavish Spirits website for $75. It is available in all U.S. states except for Alaska, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah.

“Graham encompasses both the heritage of Scotland and the quintessential American dream through carving his own path in Hollywood,” McTavish Spirits Vice President Connor Gilbert said. “Combined with Graham’s incredible passion for whiskey, bringing a product to market that harmoniously combines and honors both of those aspects only makes sense, and that’s where this idea was born. The War Chief is a premium, complex and nuanced bourbon that will appease both the casual and seasoned whiskey drinker alike.”

McTavish Spirits says its goal is to create a brand whiskey brands that “shatters the conventional ‘celebrity-driven’ paradigm.”

Certainly, this bucks the tradition of watered-down, dull celebrity whiskeys (thanks to its reasonably elevated age statement and Bottled In Bond status) although it isn’t the first celebrity whiskey to do so. Eric Church’s Whiskey JYPSI, which debuted in May, is another example of an upper-class celebrity bourbon that was obviously crafted with great care.

McTavish The Warchief Bottled-In-Bond 7 Year Old Bourbon Tasting Notes, per McTavish Spirits

(Photo: McTavish Spirits)

Nose: Vanilla, caramel, and a hint of chocolate. With subtle aromas of baking spices and dark cherry

Taste: Sweet vanilla on the front of the palate, subtle rye baking spice

Finish: Dark cherry and caramel

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